Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus : Discovery
A new dinosaur species named Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus has been recently discovered, which walked the region of Kyrgyzstan in Central Asia around 165 million years ago.
- Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus is a new species of large theropod dinosaur discovered in the Middle Jurassic Balabansai formation in the northern part of the Fergana Depression, Kyrgyzstan.
- It roamed our planet during the Callovian age of the Jurassic period between 165 and 161 million years ago.
- The ancient predator was 7 to 8 m in body length, and had an extremely protruding ‘eyebrow’ on the so-called postorbital bone, a skull bone behind the eye opening, which indicates the presence of a horn at this point.
- It belongs to Metriacanthosauridae, a group of medium-to large-sized allosauroid theropod dinosaurs that are characterized by high arched skulls, plate-like elongate neural spines, and slender hindlimbs.
- Theropod dinosaurs are one of the most important large groups of dinosaurs, including well-known predators such as Tyrannosaurus and Allosaurus, as well as modern birds.
- Alpkarakush kyrgyzicus is also the first large Jurassic predatory dinosaur ever unearthed between central Europe and East Asia.
